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McDEVITT 

THE  "SOCIALIST1 
ROOSEVELT 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


r 


The  "Socialist"  Roosevelt 

Savior  of  the 
System 

:  : : OR : :  : 

"  Socialists  Whom  You  Can  Work " 


SOME  SIDE-LIGHTS  ON  THE  GENEALOGY 
OF  THE  "BULL  MOOSE" 


BY 

WILLIAM  McDEVITT,  LL.M., 

Former  Editor  Oakland  "Daily  World."  "Socialist  Voice."  etc 


PUBLISHED   BY 

BOOK  OMNORIUM 

SAN   FRANCISCO 
1912 


THOSE  WHO  DOUBT  THE  TRUTH  OF  MIRA- 
CLES SHOULD  CLOSE  THIS  BOOK  AT  ONCE,  AS 
THEY  WILL  FIND  IN  IT  NOTHING  TO  INTER- 
EST THEM. 

(From  "The  Seven  Apparitions  of  the  Seven  Sainted  Ser- 
vites,"  in  New  Saints  of  1888,  page  154.) 


The  "Socialist"  Roosevelt. 


There  be  those  who  declare  that  the  transfiguration  of  the  man- 

;  killing,  monkey-shooting,  labor-baiting  Rough  Rider  of  1908  into  the 

"  New  Saint  of  the  Social  Crusade  of  1912,  is  a  MIRACLE.     Others 

there  are  that  assert  in  this  wise :    That  Mr.  Roosevelt,  the  man  who 

in  1909,  (according  to  his  own  words)  (See  Outlook,  March  20,  1909) 

was  utterly  unable  to  supply  language  strong  enough  to  ease  his  soul 

of  his  stinging  abhorrence  of  the  socialists,  should  now  in  1912  be  so 

enamored  of  even  "blatant  socialism,"  as  to  pilfer  an  imposing  pile 

of  planks  from  the  latest  socialist  platform, — this  is  unquestionably  a 

MIRACLE. 

Yes,  surely;  but  it  is  a  POLITICAL  miracle.  Now  political 
miracles,  be  it  never  forgotten,  are  not  only  quite  natural  (to  wonder- 
working politicians),  but  are  quite  easy  to  explain  to  those  who  see 
beneath  the  surface  and  show  of  things  into  the  springs  of  being  and 
acting. 

m  EGO  SCABIES  ROOSEVELTIANA 

OT> 

>~  The  political  miracle  sheds  most  of  its  miraculous  shell  when  it 
^£  is  exposed  to  the  gaze  of  those  who  understand  the  Ego  scabies,  the 
§  itch  of  personal  leadership,  or  the  urge  (the  cosmic  urge,  if  we  may 
^  lift  the  lingo  of  some  social  evangelist  with  a  "messianic  message"), — 
§  the  cosmic  urge  of  immanent  influence. 

It  is  of  course  conceded  generally  that  no  greater  case  of  this  Ego 
scabies  than  the  Roosevelt  specimen  has  ever  been  exhibited ;  but 
yet  we  are  very  far  from  imputing  this  as  either  crime  or  disease  to 
Mr.  Roosevelt  (or  any  of  the  lesser  militant  messianics).  The  pro- 
found and  universal  craving  for  REFORM  (that  is,  immediate  relief — 
usually  by  dosage)  in  periods  of  longdrawn  stress,  must  of  necessity 
create  the  type  (Roosevelt,  Ghost  Dance,  Moses, — call  it  what  you 
will)  of  individual  fervor  and  consuming  energy  that  serves  to  pre- 
cipitate or  crystallize  the  permeating  discontent  of  the  times. 

THE  COUP  D'  ETAT  OF  A  NEW  NAPOLEON 

Roosevelt,  the  "socialist,"  has  arrived. 

The  remorseless  Chicago  steam-roller  that  flattened  out  the  Third- 
Term  program  of  T.  R.  did  not  annul  or  annihilate  the  political  career 


of  the  Rough  Rider.  No  momentum  is  ever  annihilated — when 
impeded,  it  is  absorbed  or  deflected.  In  the  case  of  Roosevelt,  the 
political  momentum  launched,  in  design,  along  the  ways  of  conven- 
tional Republicanism,  was  hurled  back  from  the  broad  bulwark  of 
the  institutional  and  constitutional  G.  O.  P.  The  shock-absorber 
known  as  Taft  took  up  some  of  the  momentum  of  theHero  of  San 
Juan  and  other  Hills ;  but  most  of  it  was  deflected  into  another  channel, 
a  channel  like  an  unflooded  canal — already  dug  and  waiting  for  the 
flow  of  the  newly  diverted  waters. 

Roosevelt  had  been  patiently  building  that  canal — the  canal  that 
would  cut  the  isthmus  of  time  and  unite  his  past  reign  with  his 
coming  rule.  When  his  political  fortune  should  be  forced  to  recoil 
from  the  court  of  plutocracy  and  the  seat  of  public  power,  it  must 
have  an  outlet  to  a  vaster  field. 

It  was  not  for  nothing  that  the  ex-President  visited  and  studied 
the  capitals  of  industrial  Europe ;  not  for  nothing  that  he  allied  himself 
with  the  political  ideals  of  radical  Lyman  Abbott  and  the  Outlook 
crowd  of  ex-divines  and  ex-magnates ;  not  for  nothing  that  he  has 
frequented  for  a  decade  the  society  of  "Brother"  John  Mitchell  and 
Father  Curran,  the  heads  of  the  state  and  church  among  the  miners 
of  the  East ;  not  for  nothing  that  he  gathered  together  his  inner  circle 
of  Garfield  and  Pinchot  and  Lincoln  Steffens  and  Heney  and  Whit- 
lock  and  the  other  "rational"  radicals  of  the  modern  industrial  era. 
He  was  "outlooking" ;  he  was  building ;  he  was  digging  his  own  canal ; 
he  was  constructing  his  political  fortunes  for  an  inevitable  future 
and  a  spectacular  'climax. 

THE  FINGER  ON  THE  POLITICAL  DIAL 

Probably  no  Republican  'politician  has  studied  the  election  re- 
turns of  the  world  since  1904  more  intensively  than  Roosevelt ;  and 
certainly  no  other  student  of  election  returns  had  better  chances  to 
learn  his'lesson  and  to  "hear  his  master's  voice."  "The  Supreme  Court," 
says  the  sagacious  Mr.  Dooley,  "follows  the  election  returns."  Roose- 
velt did  more  than  that;  he  rooted  and  grubbed  at  the  figures;  he 
chewed  and  digested  them;  he  assimilated  their  significance. 

One  amazing  sign  ran  thru  all  those  messages  from  voting  masses ; 
one  dominant  note  sounded  and  resounded  from  all  those  elections ; 
one  chord  was  constant  and  compelling.  It  could  not  evade  the  eager 
penetration  or  the  facile  ear  of  that  master  of  political  harmony,  and 
that  genius  of  ballot-box  mathematics,  Roosevelt.  This  sign,  this  note, 
this  constant  and  compelling  chord,  was  the  expression  of  the  upward 
curve,  the  forward  sweep  of  the  Social-Democratic,  or  "Socialistic" 
vote.  Don't  fail  to  observe  that  "Socialistic."  The  special  meaning 


given  to  that  term  as  distinguished  from  the  other  adjective  or  descrip- 
tive, "Socialist,"  will  appear  in  this  discussion  and,  it  is  very  likely, 
in  many  future  election  campaigns. 

It  did  not  take  the  astute  student  of  returns  very  long  to  learn 
that,  altho  this  tremendously  significant  upward  sweep  of  votes  was 
attributed,  usually,  to  the  rise  and  growth  of  the  socialist  movement, 
there  was  something  else  involved  in  the  problem — something  of 
much  more  immediate  and  important  purpose  to  an  aspiring  and 
careful  politician  or  statesman. 

DOCTORING  THE  SYMPTOMS 

A  deeper  diagnosis,  probing  under  the  surface  and  show  of 
things,  discovered  that  in  all  these  campaigns  where  "great  gains" 
for  "socialism"  or  "social  democracy"  were  recorded,  the  campaign 
had  been  fought  largely  on  certain  "practical"  measures.  These 
measures  were  usually  remarkable  for  their  superficial  nature  and 
their  easy  popularity —  after  the  political  "event."  They  were  issues 
that  lend  themselves  readily  to  a  sort  of  "thundering-in-the-index" 
kind  of  radical  fervor  and  eloquence.  To  the  unscientific  "doctor" 
the  symptom  is  deemed  the  disease,  and  doctoring  the  symptoms  is 
not  only  very  natural  and  very  popular  with  intellects  of  average 
ability,  but  is  also  very  innocuous  to  the  cause  of  the  economic  or 
political  trouble. 

At  the  same  time  it  was  obvious  to  such  political  outlookers  as 
Roosevelt,  that  in  those  campaigns  where  the  more  prominent  candi- 
dates were  clearly  reactionary  or  standpattish,  such  other  candidates 
as  reflected  both  the  "radical"  discontent  of  their  community  and  also 
some  measure  of  personal  achievement  and  respectability,  invariably 
made  remarkable  gains  in  votes  and  even(  in  favorable  cases)  secured 
an  election.  Something  very  similar  to  this  was  seen  in  Los  Angeles, 
Cleveland,  Milwaukee,  Toledo,  Berkeley, — and  in  other  towns  where 
Social  Democrats,  Socialists,  or  Radicals  (like  Brand  Whitlock)  made 
notoriously  startling  successes,  since  the  era  of  Golden  Rule  Jones 
and  Big  Tom  Johnson. 

Mr.  Abraham  Ruef,  who  shares  with  Roosevelt  the  distinction 
of  being  the  ablest  practical  politician  in  this  country  (altho  for 
state  reasons  Mr.  Ruef  is  not  actively  engaged  in  "regular"  politics 
now),  understood  these  facts  and  applied  them  with  success  to  his 
Union  Labor  party  (so  called).  He  explains  in  his  memoirs,  "The 
Road  I  Travelled,"  his  "ways  and  means"  of  being  radical  without 
being  "dangerous"  to  any  strong  interest. 

These  facts  were  not  lost  on  the  keen  political  Watchman  of 
The  Outlook.  All  that  was  needed,  while  he  was  assimilating  this 


"victories,"  was  for  him  to  prepare  himself  for  a  consistent  or  semi- 
consistent  lining-up  with  the  situation. 

ROOSEVELT  OUTLOOKING  IN  1909 

Now,  at  last,  those  two  articles  of  his  in  The.1  Outlook  in  March, 
1909,  become  very  significant.  In  the  ligtit  of  after  events  the  full 
import  of  T.  R.'s  "outlooking"  may  be  measured  and  probed.  Those 
two  articles  serve  as  the  key,  the  open  sesame,  to  a  sound  under- 
standing of  the  later  course  of  the  »career  of  this  newest  Ghost  Dance 
Messiah  of  political  evangelism. 

Those  articles  were,  of  course,  Roosevelt's  method  of  "whipping 
the  stream,"  as  it  were,  before  making  the  deciding  cast.  He  left 
them  behind  him,  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  socialist  press  and 
the  guardian  spirit  of  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott,  while  the  great  nimrod 
himself  was  penetrating  the  African  jungle — in  his  disguise  as  Bwana 
Tumbo. 

The  first  of  the  two  papers  on  socialism  was  called  "Where  We 
cannot  Work  with  the  Socialists."  Nothing  newer  or  more  startling 
than  the  average  ignorance  and  calumny  of  the  socialist  movement 
of  Europe  and  America,  appears  in  this  first  paper.  Roosevelt  merely 
purges  his  perturbed  system  of  his  long  pent-up  bile  against  Debs 
(who  so  often  and  so  mercilessly  flayed  him),  and  of  his  puritanical 
cant  against  Dr.  Herron  and  others  who  had  stung  the  famous 
propagandist  of  anti-race-suicide  by  their  trenchant  criticism  of  his 
shallow  pulpiteering. 

The  second  paper,  however,  is  the  important  and  NOW  illumin- 
ating expression  of  Roosevelt's  readiness  to  line  up  as  the  leader  of 
the  new  social  crusade  and  as  an  American  Bismarck.  This  article 
he  calls,  "Where  We  Can  Work  with  the  Socialists."  I  stated  in 
1909  that  the  right  title  for  that  article  was,  "Where  We  Can  WORK 
the  Socialists."  Today  anybody  can  see  the  justice  of  that  statement. 
Today  Roosevelt  himself  knows  that  the  time  is  ripe  and  auspicious 
for  the  carrying  out  of  his  deep-laid  purpose  to  utilize  socialism,  HIS 
kind  of  Socialism,  for  the  one  great  purpose  of 

SAVING  THE  SYSTEM 

If  you  contrast  the  purpose  of  the  international  socialist  move- 
ment with  the  now  apparent  purpose  of  Roosevelt's  patent  brand  of 
'"socialism,"  you  will  be  easily  able  to  decide  which  you  prefer  for 
your  own. 

The  real  socialist  movement  has  for  its  prime  purpose  the 
organization  of  the  working  class  for  the  emancipation  of  society 
thru  the  emancipation  of  the  workers.  The  genuine  socialism  is, 
therefore,  necessarily  and  primarily  a  class  movement. 


I  have  often  defined  socialism  (the  prevailing  Marxian  socialism) 
as  "the  organization  of  the  working  class  on  class  lines  for  class 
interests";  nothing  short  of  that  IS  socialism,  and  nothing  more  than 
that  is  needed,  in  the  ripeness  of  industrial  evolution,  for  the  re- 
demption of  humanity  from  the  slavery  of  poverty,  and  from  the 
degradation  of  being  mere  "hands"  for  the  masters  to  drive  and 
exploit.  The  verb  "exploit,"  as  used  by  Marx,  is  from  the  French 
form  for  the  English  expression,  "legal  robbery."  Now,  exploitation 
or  legal  robbery  is  both  the  base  and  the  dome  of  capitalism. 

The  abolition  of  exploitation  will  be  the  abolition  of  capital, — 
capital  being  merely  the  social  means  of  legal  robbery,  just  as  chattel 
slavery  in  this  country  before  the  Civil  revolution  was  the  main 
social  means  of  robbery  by  the  plutocrats  of  the  South,  from  George 
Washington  with  his  hundreds  of  slaves  down  to  Jefferson  Davis. 

THE  SLAVE  AND  THE  HUMAN  BEING 

When  slavery  in  the  South  was  abolished,  the  chattel  slave  (of 
the  plantation  type)  disappeared,  altho  the  human  being  of  the 
black  race  remained.  The  transformation  was  in  the  social  status 
of  the  human  being.  So  with  "capital" ;  when  wage-slavery  (the 
prevailing  means  of  robbing  under  capitalism)  is  abolished,  the 
wage-slave  will  disappear.  Disappears  also  "capital,"  as  such;  but 
the  human  worker  and  the  "means  of  production  (now  called  "capi- 
tal" and  being  the  stored-up  and  NOW  unpaid  "labor"  or  product 
of  the  social  workers)  will  remain  to  be  organized  on  £he  new 
social  lines  of  industrial  fraternity  and  co-operative  social  ownership 
and  control. 

Hence  the  socialists  do  not  believe  in  capitalism ;  they  denounce 
competition ;  they  abhor  poverty,  not  alone  for  themselves,  but  for 
everyone  else.  With  Bernard  Shaw,  they  deem  poverty  the  most 
damnable  crime  of  the  age.  Hence  they  are  pledged  to  abolish,  root 
and  branch,  the  system-tree  that  produces  poverty  and  its  fruitage  of 
social  crimes. 

WHAT  T.  R.  BELIEVES— HIS  SYSTEM  OF  SOCIETY 


But  Roosevelt  believes  in  competition — he,  the  greatest  preacher 
in  politics,  preaches  competition.  He  lauds  the  strenuous  life;  he 
loves  the  system  that  delimits  the  masses  from  the  rich  and  rewards 
with  wealth  the  natural  "leaders" — the  fine  and  the  fit,  the  strong 
and  the  efficient— HIS  KIND..  To  save  that  system,  he  will  go 
to  any  political  length — even  to  "socialism,"  HIS  kind  of  socialism. 
If  he  were  frank  and  open-minded  he  would  cry  aloud  the  slogan  of 
the  Progressive  party, 


"ALL  THE  SOCIALISM  NECESSARY  TO  SAVE 
CAPITALISM" 

His  "Confession  of  Faith"  to  his  psalmsinging  legions  that 
"stood  at  Armageddon  (Chicago — in  the  shade  of  the  Steam-roller) 
and  battled  for  the  Lord,"  emphasizes  ..this  supreme  conviction : 
In  order  to  prevent  a  social  revolution  we  must  have  political 
evolution  in  the  form  of  the  positive  social  program  of  the  Pro- 
gressive Party.  As  Mila  Tupper  Maynard  says  in  the  N.  Y.  Call  Sun- 
day, Sept.  1,  1912:  "The  only  point  on  which  the  opposing  interests  in 
this  Progressive  Party  are  agreed,  is  that  the  tide  sweeping  toward 
Socialism  must  be  met  by  some  concessions  which  will  appease  the 
people.  'We  must  make  the  slaveowners  be  good,  or  slavery  is  gone/ 
is  the  real  platform  of  progressivism."— 

Now  this  "program"  follows  remarkably  the  lines  laid  down  in 
that  ominous  second  OUTLOOK  article,  "Where  We  Can  Work 
the  Socialists."  Study  the  overpowering  parallel  furnished  by  Editor 
Ghent,  of  the  National  Socialist  of  Washington,  in  his  lining  up  of  the 
two  platforms — the  Progressive  and  the  Socialist,  as  given  in 
facsimile  on  page  7  of  this  pamphlet.  Never  was  there  a  more 
egregious  example  of  monumental  political  pilfering. 


THE  SAVING  SALVE  OF  PSEUDO— SOCIALISM 

• 

Could  any  demonstration  more  completely  prove  the  Roosevelt 
scheme?-  Is  any  clearer  proof  that  Roosevelt's  conscious  design  is 
to  save  the  system  of  competitive  capital  by  salving  it  with  pseudo — 
socialism?  All  those  planks  of  the  Socialist  party  that  smack  of 
political  popularity  (as  abundantly  proved  by  the  experience  of  the 
radical  or  Johnson  republicans  in  California,  and  the*  no  less  "radical" 
socialists  of  Milwaukee  under  Berger,  or  insurgents  under  La  Follette 
in  Wisconsin ;  all  those  demands  that  do  not  go  to  the  root  of  the 
social  problems  but  that  do  body  forth  the  yearnings  of  the  social 
reformer  and  the  discontented  business  element;  all  these  are  calmly 
appropriated  by  the  super-prophet  of  the  new  political  commandment 
"Thou  shalt  not  steal  "  Yes,  thou  shalt  not  steal — from  ME — take 
it  from  the  other  fellow ! 


"THE  WHITE  TERROR  AND  THE  RED" 

In  the  latest  issue  of  The  International  (of  New  York),  the 
editor,  Geo.  Sylvester  Viereck,  who  is  so  bounding  an  admirer  of 
Roosevelt  that  he  has  burst  into  the  flamboyant  poetry  of  "The 


So  the  new  party,  which  goes  boldly  forth  to  its  first  campaign  with  the  inscription  on  its 
banners,  "Thou  Shalt  Not  Steal!"  begins  its  career  with  the  brazen  theft  of  half  the  working 
programme  of  the  Socialist  party.  The  great  Theodore,  who  has  exhausted  the  vocabulary  of  in- 
vective in  denouncing  the  wickedness  of  the  Socialists,  must  needs  write  his  own  platform  as  a  pale 
reflex  of  the  Socialist  platform. 

Just  look  at  the  parallel  columns  below.  With  scissors  and  paste  pot  and  a  copy  of  the  Social- 
ist platform,  Roosevelt  started  in  on  his  task  of  presenting  the  American  people  with  a  catalogue 
of  the  evils  which  beset  them  and  of  the  remedies  which  are  necessary.  After  all  his  swashbuckling 
and  rant  against  the  Socialists,  he  is  forced  to  accept  the  main  points  in  the  Socialist  indictment  of 
capitalist  society,  atid  is  further  forced  to  promise  some  at  least 


n  the  Socialis 
f  the  Socialist  measures  of  relief. 


We  present  only  the  more  striking  parallelisms  i 
you  think  of  them—  and  of  Theodore  : 

SOCIALIST  PLATFORM. 

The  abolition  of  the  present  restrictions  upon  the 
ion,  so  that  -that  instru- 
majority  of  the  voters. 


m  of  the  pre 

ncndmem   of   the   Constitui 
ent  may  be  amendable  by  3 


We  demand:  The  conservation 
sources,  particularly  of  the  lives  and 
workers  and  their  families. 


the  two  platforms.    Read  them  and.  See  what 


"PROGRESSIVE"  PLATFORM. 

Trie   Progressive  party,  believing  that  a   free  peo-  \        / 

pie  should  have  the  power  from  time  to  time  to  amend  \    / 

their   fundamental  law  so  as  to  adapt  it  progressively  yf 

to  the  changing  needs  of  the  people,  pledges  itself  to  «^> 


_    _  peopli 

provide  a  more  easy  and  expediti 
ing  the  Federal  Constitution. 


work  unceasingly 


By  securing  a  more  effective 'inspection  of  work- 
shops,   factories,  and   mines 


Effective  legislation  looking  to  the  prevention  of 
industrial  accidents,  occupational  diseases,  overwork, 
involuntary  unemployment,  and  other  injurious  effects 
incident  to  modern  industry. 

The  prohibition  of  child  labor. 


By   establishing  minimum   wage  scales. 

By  securing  to  every  worker  a  rest  peri 
less  than  a  day  and  a  half  in  each  week. 


The    eight-hour    day    in    contii 


twenty-four- 


By  abolishing  the  brutal  exploitation  of  convicts 
under  the  contract  system,  and  substituting  the  co- 
operative organization  of  industries  in 
and  workshops  for  the  benefit  of  convi< 
dependents. 


The  general  prohibition  of  night-  work  for  women 
ind  the  establishment  of  an  eight-hour  work  day  for 
women  and  young  persons. 

The  abolition  of  the  convict  contract  labor  system, 
substituting    a    system    of   prison    production    for    gov- 
ital    consumption    only,    and    the    application    of 
ings    to    the    support    of    their    dependent 


:.the   full   liberty  of  all  schools  of  pra 


\Ve  favor  the  union  .of  all  the  existing  agencies  or 
ihe*Fedcral  government  dealing  with  the  public  health 
into  a  single  national  health  service,  without  discrimi- 
nation against  or  for  any  one  set  of  therapeutic  meth- 
ods, schools  of  medicine,  or  schools  of  healing. 


The  separation  of  the  present  Bureau  of  Labor 
from  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor  and 
its  elevation  to  the  rank  of  a  department. 


The  adoption  of  a  graduated  income  tax,  the  in- 
crease of  the  rates  of  the  present  corporation  tax  and 

portion  to 'the  value  of  the  ctttte'imfto'nearnU/of 

kin— the  proceeds  of  these  taxes  to  be  employes  in  the 
socialization   of   industry 


The  abolition  of  the  monopoly  ownership  of  pa 
enis.  and  ih*  substitution  of  collective  ownership,  wit 
direct  rewards  «o  inventors  by  premiums  or  royaltie 


party  to  establish  a  department  of 
n  the  Cabinet,  and  with  wide  juris- 
•5  affecting  the  conditions  of  labor 


labor  with  ; 
diction  ovci 
and  living. 

We  believe  in  a  graduated  inheritance  tax  as  a 
national  means  of  equalizing  the  obligations  of  hold- 
ers of  property  to  yovernmem.  and  we  hereby  pledge 
out  party  to  enact  such  a  Federal  law  as  will  tax  large 
inheritances,  returning  to  ihe  States  an  equitable  per. 
centage  of  all  amounts  colfeoed.  We  favor- the  rati- 
fication of  the  pending  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
giving  the  government  power  to  levy  an  income  tax 

The  Progressive  party,  believing  that  no  people 
can  justly  claim  to  be  a  true  democracy  which  denies 
political  rights  on  account  of  sex.  pledges  itself  to  the 
task  of  securing  equal  siftfrage  to  men  and  women 


We  pledge  ourselves  to  the  enactment  of  a  patent 
law   which   will  make   it   impossible    for  patents   to  be 


The  adoption  of  the  initiative,  referendum,  and 
recall  and  of  proportional  representation,  nationally 
as  well  as  locally 


The    extension    of    the    public    domain    to    in< 

fed* 

The  further  conservation  and  development  of 
iir.il    resources     for    the    use   and    benefit   of   all 
people- 

"he 

trolled  by  the  nation. 

The  collective  ownership  and  democratic  mar 

ways 

cy    sy 

The  immediate  curbing  of  the  power  of  the 
to  issue  injunctions 


We  believe  th.it  the  issuance  of  injunctions  in 
case.s  arising  out  of  labor  di-pmer,  should  be  prohibit- 
ed when  such  injunctions  would  not  apply  when  m. 
labor  dispute,  txi.tcd 


Hymn  of  Armageddon,"  says  that  Roosevelt's  socialism  is  the 
"White"  socialism,  as  opposed  to  the  "Red,"  and  that  therefore  all 
the  "white"  socialists  are  for  Teddy,  while  the  "Reds"  are  raving 
over-against  him.  True ;  for  to  the  militant  worker,  "white"  social- 
ism, like  the  "white  plague"  and  "white  slavery,"  is  ghostly — and 
ghastly. 

THE  PREVENTATIVE  SOCIALISM  OF  OYSTER  BAY 

The  "socialism"  of  Roosevelt,  therefore,  is  preventative  socialism, 
just  as  the  "unionism"  of  the  A.  F.  of  L.  brand  is  preventative  union- 
ism. Preventative  socialism  aims  to  save  capitalism;  preventative 
unionism  endeavors  or  seems  to  endeavor  to  bulwark  the  boss  in 
his  ownership  and  his  rule. 

Preventative  socialism  differs  materially  from  international 
Marxian  socialism  (the 'kind,  the  only  kind,  says  Professor  Veblen, 
formerly  of  Stanford  University,  that  "inspires  hopes  or  fears). 
The  slogan  of  preventative  or  Roosevelt  socialism,  as  we  saw,  is, 
"As  much  socialism  as  is  needed  to  save  Capitalism. '-  The  real 
socialism  stands  for 


'ALL   THE    SOCIALISM    NECESSARY    TO    KILL 
CAPITALISM  " 


Real  socialism  IS  destructive,  in  a  certain  sense,  and  as  has 
been  charged ;  it  IS  destructive  of  capitalism ;  it  IS  destructive  of 
wage-slavery  and  competition  and  war  and  every  other  form  of 
social  hell. 

To  show  how  fundamentally  antagonistic  it  is  to  his  own 
assumed  socialism,  Roosevelt,  in  the  paper  above-cited,  uses,  un- 
wittingly, many  illuminating  adjectives1  or  phrases.  He  calls  the 
socialism  of  Eugene  Debs  "advanced" — Theodore  is  not  "advanced," 
tho,  like  Bryan  (16  to  1  years  ago),  he  thinks  he  is  advancing — 
his  own  political  career.  The  socialism  of  the  advanced  socialists, 
says  Roosevelt,  is  "thoro-going" ;  his  is  not — it  is  neither  thoro  nor 
going.  Again,  he  refers,  in  his  typical  and  genially  kind  manner,  to 
"these  savage  socialists."  T.  R.  is  of  course  the  quintescence  of 
"refined"  socialism.  Elsewhere,  he  calls!  us  "self-styled"  and  "catch- 
word" socialists;  he  himself  is  not  a  self-styled  socialist,  as  that  is 
(or  was)  a  bad  name  to  get  "good"  votes  with ;  nor  is  he  a  "catch- 
word" economist — otherwise  he  would  not  be  so  insistent  on  calling 
himself  by  the  catchword,  "progressive." 

"So  long  as  they  (the  socialists)  make  any  proposals,"  says  the 
volunteer  Colonel,  "which  are  not  foolish  (to  me),  and  which  tend 


towards  betterment  (for  me),  we  can  act  with  them."  Much  virtue 
in  that  little  word  "act,"  as  used  by  a  political  star  among  the  "good 
actors." 

"The  real,  logical,  advanced  socialists  who  teach  their  faith 
botlKas  a  creed  and  a  political  platform,  may  deceive  to  their  ruin-- 
decent  and  well-meaning  but  shortsighted  men,"  wrote  Roosevelt  ) 
in  his  capacity  of  consulting  (or  perhaps  INsulting)  editor.  If  we 
leave  these  decent,  well-meaning,  and  shortsighted  men  to  the  lure 
of  a  "socialist,"  who  proclaims  himself  as  not  "REAL,  LOGICAL, 
ADVANCED,"  we  must  trust  that  the  "savior  of  -the  system"  will 
lead  them  thru  the  primrose  paths  of  political  glory  to  that  golden 
paradise  wherein  multi-millionaires  like  Perkins  and  Judge  Gary  are 
waiting  to  welcome  them — and  set  them  to  work  in  the  Steel  mills 
for  seven  days  a  week  and  twelve  hours  a  day. 

Among  the  innumerable  other  accusing  names  that  Mr.  Roose- 
velt applies  with  so  much  gusto  and  Christian  charity  (in  a  Christian 
paper)  to  his  socialist  brethren,  are  "revolting,"  "radical,"  "straight- 
forward," "ultra,"  "scientific^,"  "certain,"  "recognized,"  and  countless 
other  tags,  labels  or  libels.  v<  Yet,  withal,  in  three  short  years  he 
seeks  out  the  platform  of  these  very  men  and  women  whom  he 
reviled  in  1909  as  "Debs  socialists,"  and  coolly  swipes  two-thirds 
of  their  latest  program.  Well  may  we  ask  some  power  that  "wad  the 
giftie  gie  us,  To  see  ourselves  as  Teddy  sees  us,"  whether  this 
nl'ching  or  snitching  of  the  socialist  platform  is  "straightforward," 
"scientific,"  "ultra,"  "logical,"  "advanced/"  "REAL,"  "RADICAL"? 
Or  is  it  merely  "Revolting"?  Would  it  come  under  the  castigation 
he  sought  to  serve  out  to  Eugene  V.  Debs,  of  whom  he  wrote  in  that 
notorius  Outlook  outburst  as  one  of  those  who  "occupy"  (I  quote 
literally)  "a  position  so  revolting  that  it  is  difficult  even  to  discuss 
it  in  a  reputable  paper"? 


"TAKE  FROM  THE  STORM  ITS  STRENGTH!" 

Richard  Watson  Gilder,  the  ipoet,  editor,  and  reformer,  addressed 
under  date  of  March  23,  1909,  some  lines  in  The  Outlook  to  a  certain 
distinguished  personage,  perhaps  an  ex-President  of  the  United. 
R.  W.  G.  had  a  fondness,  I  suspect,  for  ex-Presidents.  I  have  an 
autograph  original  letter  of  his  before  me ;  in  it  he  speaks  with 
evident  pleasure  of  the  fact  that  ex-Persident  Cleveland  is  going  to 
take  dinner  with  him  at  his  country  place  (up  around  Buzzards  Bay) 
on  the  following  evening. 

Well,  in  that  poem  of  Gilder's,  called  "Live  Now  in  Nature/' 
(Roosevelt  was  then  on  his  mission  of  tender  humanity  to  the  be 


nighted  monkeys  and  other  dangerous  beasts  of  Africa),   the   poet 
writes  : 

"Let  not  one  full  hour  pass 
Fruitless  for  thee,  in  all  its  weary  length ; 
Take  sweetness  from  the  grass ; 
Take  from  the  storm  its  strength!" 

The  writer  could  not  have  realized  how  prophetic  of  today's 
denouement  was  his  appeal.  "Take  from  the  storm  its  strength !" 
The  storm— what  is  the  storm  but  SOCIALISM?  And  he,  the  new 
Jove  (or  Marlborough)  to  ride  the  whirlwind  and  direct  the  storm: — 
nay,  more !  "take  from  the  storm  its  STRENGTH" — why,  bless 
your  unsuspecting  soul,  it's  TEDDY. 

To  rob  the  socialist  storm  of  its  political  terrors,  to 
shear  the  locks  of  the  new-menacing  Samson,  to  place  velvet 
gauntlets  on  the  keen  claws  of  the  revolutionary  proletariat, 
to  redeem  capitalism,  to  perpetuate  competition,  to  restrain 
progress  from  overleaping  the  respectable,  traditional,  con- 
ventional, reasonable,  safe,  sound,  conservative,  SUCCESS- 
FUL channels  of  reform  politics — t  h  i  s  is  the  mission  of 
the  New  Crusade  and  the  Roosevelt  evangel  of  the  Pro- 
gressive party. 

If  further  proof  were  needed,  the  attitude  of  Hearst 
would  supply  absolute  demonstration. 

ROOSEVELT  HELPS  HIMSELF  TO  HEARST'S  PLANS 

For  years  Hearst  has  been  planning  to  devise  and  launch  a  party 
of  substituted  reform  for  menacing  revolution.  His  Independence 
party,  his  old  government-ownership  campaign,  his  truckling  to  the 
remnants  of  populism,  his  subtle  appeals  to  the  agrarian  discontent, 
and  his  endeavors  to  wind  himself  and  his  influence  into  the  inner 
circle  of  union  labor  politicians, — all  this  has  indicated  that  Hearst 
was  preparing  for  the  party  that  should  be  the  buffer  of  national 
reform  as  against  international  socialism.  Upton  Sinclair's  vision  in 
1907  of  Hearst  as  the  leader  of  the  new  crusade  to  save  capital  or 
organize  the  "Industrial  Republic"  by  an  overwhelming  victory  in 
1913,  suggested  that,  after  all,  Roosevelt  might  be  the  man  to  lead 
the  new  revolt.  Hearst  was  ready,  but  he  didn't  happen  to  hold 
the  strategic  position  at  the  crucial  time.  But  even  now  he  is 
adopting  the  position  of  foster-father  to  the  new  political  weanling. 
He  appears  to  expect  the  mantle  of  Elias  (Teddy)  to  fall  from  the 

10 


doughty  shoulders  of  T.  R.  and  repose  more  gracefully  upon  the 
languid  form  of  the  father  of  the  Independence  League.  The  I.  L , 
it  will  be  remembered,  sought  to  capitalize  for  itself  the  enmity 
of  Standard  Oil,  just  as  the  Roosevelt  uprising  is  seeking  to  draw 
upon  itself  the  open  opposition  of  Archbold  and  other  Standard  Oil 
magnates.  These  magnates  are  wise  in  their  regeneration ;  they 
want  their  "friends"  to  "bust"  them,  just  as  the  tariff  wants  its 
friends  to  reform  it ;  and  when  I  speak  of  Hearst  and  T.  R.  as 
"friends"  of  Standard  Oil,  I  mean,  of  -course,  that  they  are  devoted 
to  the  same  system  to  which  the  Standard-Oil  trust  is  devoted,  the 
system  of  capitalism  and  competition. 

CBUT  IS  ROOSEVELT  SINCERE? 
he  universal  reply  to  Roosevelt's  claim  that  he  is  the  supreme 
representative  of  the  New  Dispensation,  is  to  assert  that  he  is  "fak- 
ing," that  he  is  not  sincere ;  that  he  had  seven  years  of  presidential 
power  and  prestige,  and  did  none  of  these  great  acts  of  reform ;  that 
no  man  in  modern  industrial  times  had  so  much  chance  to  show 
genuine  sympathy  with  militant  labor,  and  no  man  has  shown  less 
sympathy  or  understanding;  that,  in  the  language  of  Charles  Edward 
Russell,  his  most  penetrating  and  pulverizing  critic,  Roosevelt  has 
never  in  a  long  private  and  public  career  displayed  any  rudiments, 
even,  of  humane  tenderness.  Even  if  all  of  these  accusations  were 
as  well  founded  as  the  best-grounded  of  them  are  known  to  be, 
that  neither  explains  nor  answers  the  Progressive  party  and  its 
pretentions. 

If  you  dispose  of  Roosevelt  in  that  summary  manner,  how  about 
Hiram  Johnson?  We  in  California  know  Johnson's  caliber;  we  are 
apt  to  agree  with  Bryan  in  thinking  and  asserting  that  Johnson  is 
more  significant  than  Roosevelt,  has  a  better  record,  and  is  more  in 
sincere  earnest.  His  "socialism,"  however,  is  of  precisely  the  same 
brand  as  that  of  Roosevelt,  and  it  is  aiming  at  very  similar  purposes 
of  bulwarking  the  "right  kind  of  capitalism,"  in  the  interest  of 
saving  the  system  and  perpetuating  competition. 

Governor  Johnson  is  no  more  engaged  in  killing  wage-slavery 
than  is  Samuel  Gompers  or  John  Mitchell  or  John  I.  Nolan,  the 
Republican-Roosevelt  candidate  for  Congress  in  a  labor  district,  with 
the  backing  of  prominent  labor  leaders  who,  like  himself,  less  than 
a  year  ago  were  manoeuvring  for  the  support  of  the  Socialist  Party, 
and  were  giving  it  out  that  in  all  future  campaigns  they  would  be 
lined  up  as  socialists  with  the  socialists.  But  the  recent  develop- 
ments prove  that  these  Roosevelt  labor  leaders  were  simply  "playing 
the  game" — to  get  votes.  They  are  hopelessly  and  pitifully  burgess 
(meaning  bourgeois)  laborites  in  instinct  and  objects. 


So,  likewise,  with  the  rest  of  the  outstanding  figures  around  th-j 
chariot  of  the  conquering  Teddy — Heney,  Pinchot,  Medill  McCormick 
Beveridge,  Garfield,  et  id  omne  genus.  They  cannot  be  disposed 
of  by  merely  attacking  Roosevelt  on  his  Croton  Dam  record  of  a 
dozen  years  ago,  nor  by  reiterating  the  story  of  how  in  a  private 
letter  he  denounced  Harriman  for  being  as  undesirable  a  citizen  as 
Debs  and  Haywood  were — in  the  general* estimation.  Incidentally, 
we  socialists  might  as  well  confess  that  we  seldom  tell  that  "un- 
desirable citizen"  story  as  accurately  as  we  tell  some  other  more 
important  things, — such  as  the  diabolical  cruelty  of  capital,  even 
of  the  highly  refored  or  municipalized  kind. 

It  is  fatuous  to  assert  that  Roosevelt  is  the  entire  Progressive 
Party.  Even  the  most  cursory  study  of  international  politics  de- 
velops the  fact  that  every  nation  that  has  a  ripening  socialist,  or 
socialistic  (laboristic)  political  organization  has  also  its  "Progressive" 
party,  under  some  one  of  many  names. 

The  father  of  progressivism,  as  a  form  of  Preventive  Socialism, 
is  no  less  a  man  than — Bismarck.  T.  R.  has  often  been  compared 
to  the  Little  Napoleon,  and  there  is  much  of  parallelism  in  the 
upstart  burgess  political  careers  of  Theodore  R.  and  Louis  N. ;  but 
now  conies  the  Bismarckian  stage  in  the  Roosevelt  unfolding. 

The  first  great  political  captain  of  capital  was  Count  Bismarck, 
and  from  his  pilot  brain  developed  the  first  great  scheme  for  a 
"positive  program  of  social  reform,"  as  a  means  of  deflecting  the 
menacing  political  revolution.  The  'career  of  the  German  Social 
Democracy  will  furnish  an  illuminating  expose  of  the  natural  course 
of  political  reform  and  political  revolution  in  modern  capitalist 
countries. 

PROGRAM  OF  "POSITIVE  REFORM"  SCHEME 

When  Professor  Schaeffle,  the  internationally  renowned  author 
of  the  Quintescence  of  Socialism  (which  has  been  a  handbook  used 
in  many  languages  by  friend  and  foe  for  a  generation  or  more),  wrote, 
probably  at  the  behest  of  Fuerst  Bismarck,  his  important  work,  "The 
Impossibility  of  Social  Democracy,"  he  pointed  out  and  contended  for 
this  central  fact  of  capitalist  political  opportunism : 

To  meet  and  withstand,  if  possible,  the  march  of  socialism  ("Real, 
logical,  advanced  socialism,  as  Roosevelt  styles  it),  it  is  necessary 
to  devise  and  present  a  program  of  POSITIVE  REFORM.  Neces- 
sarily, the  longer  you  delay  in  devising  and  -presenting  this  program 
in  a  prominent  and  compelling  manner  (as  the  Progressives  now  do, 
and  as  Hearst  failed  to  do  in  1904-1906),  the  more  essential  it 

12 


becomes  to  make  your  program  and  platform  socialistic  (not  social- 
ist, by  any  means,  but  socialistic — that  is,  an  imitation  of  socialism, 
or  SUBSTITUTE  SOCIALISM).  Hence,  because  American  politi- 
cians, like  other  American  professionals,  are  notoriously  traditional, 
superstitious,  conventional,  reactionary,  and  respectable  (what  used 
to  be  called  "genteel,"  you  know),  the  presenting  of  this  program 
of  positive  reform  has  been  impossible  until  the  tide  of  international 
socialism  has  risen  so  high  that  it  threatens  to  overwhelm  the 
ausgespielt  political  parties  at  any  election.  All  the  recent  campaigns 
in  the  United  States  have,  it  is  admitted,  proved  this  up  to  the  hilt 
of  absolute  demonstration ;  and  the  overwhelming  total  of  4,000,000 
(four  million)  German  Social-Democrat  votes  in  the  recent  election 
necessarily  aroused  the  political  ostriches  everywhere,  even  in  old 
New  England  and  in  conventional  New  York. 

But  (and  this  is  supremely  important),  before  the  world  of 
old-line  politicians  were  awake  to  the  possibilities  of  REFORM 
socialism,  many  of  the  shrewdest  of  the  get-elected-qukk  politicians 
among  the  avowed  socialists  saw  the  scheme  and  worked  it  to  a 
wondrous  conclusion.  The  leaders  of  the  Bernstein  revisionist  move- 
ment in  Germany  and  Austria,  the  J.  Ramsey  Macdonald  type  of 
Independent  labor  party  leaders  in  Great  Britain,  the  various  "Labor" 
parties  in  Australasia,  the  Italian  reformists,  the  Millerand-Briand 
Coterie  in  France,  and,  lastly  but  not  "leastly,"  the  Berger  and  the 
Harriman  "Social  Democrats"  of  Milwaukee  and  Los  Angeles, — all 
these  gave  a  practical  illustration  of  the  political  working  of  a  species 
of  ballot-box  socialism  that  proclaimed  itself  as  not  TOO  extreme, 
not  too  Utopian,  not  too  UNconstructive,  not  too  un-American  (in 
this  country — un-English,  in  England,  and,  mutatis  mutandis,  in  the 
other  countries). 

SOCIAL  DEMOCRATS  AND  SOCIAL  REPUBLICANS 

In  California,  it  now  seems  proved,  a  tacit  understanding  has 
been  reached  between  representatives  of  the  Union-Labor  party 
(so-called)  and  representatives  of  the  laboristic  or  reform  wing  of 
the  Socialist  Party  that  the  name  of  the  latter  should  become  (after 
the  Milwaukee  and  German  fashion)  "Social-Democrat,"  because,  as 
stated  in  the  now  famous  Noel-John  Murray  document,  P.  H.  Mc- 
Carthy was  willing  to  "fuse"  if  that  name  were  adopted.  Meanwhile 
programs  were  being  adopted  that  Roosevelt  might  at  any  time  have 
swiped  without  finding  himself  loaded  down  with  any  of  "the 
socialism  with  which  we  can't  work,"  as  T.  R.  would  put  it.  All 
this  may  have  been  done  in  the  utmost  good  faith — I  do  not  find 
it  necessary  to  charge  either  the  Social  Democrats  or  the  Social 

13 


Republicans  (as  the  Progressive  Party  might  very  well  call  them-" 
selves)  with  malice  or  high  crime  or  low  misdemeanor.  I  neither 
accuse  nor  excuse,  as  the  French  savant  says ;  I  merely  explain  or, 
at  least,  define.  The  age-long  contest  between  'Opportunist  and  im- 
possibilist,  like  the  precisely  similar  fight  between  insurgents  and 
standpatters,  or  progressives  and  reactionaries,  is  the  inevitable 
result  of  clashing  judgments,  and  these  are  very  frequently  (tho  not 
always)  the  effect  of  clashing  interests,  that  give  rise  necessarily  to 
antagonistic  temperaments. 

AN  INTERLUDE— WHICH  SHOULD  BE  SKIPPED  BY  ALL 
DELEGATES  TO  PEACE  CONS 

Probably  the  most  comical  and  conventional  and  hopelessly  and 
helplessly  middle-class  attitude  is  the  constant  tendency  on  the 
part  of  certain  very  "respectable"  socialist  journals  and  organizers 
to  deplore  "quarrels"  and  "swat  fesits"  and  other  exhibitions  of  a 
very  normal  tendency  to  stand  up  for  what  you  imagine  to  be  best 
or,  at  least,  better.  These  fights  merely  prove  that  both  sides  have 
sufficient  spirit  and  conviction  to  FIGHT.  It  would  indeed  be 
deplorable  if  only  ONE  side  was  willing  to  fight  for  its  convictions. 
Peace  is  easy  when  one  side  plays  the  craven  or  adopts  some  form 
of  occult  or  oriental  quietism  as  a  philosophy  of  non-resistance  or 
Christian  magnanimity  or  muttony  submissiveness.  In  San  Fran- 
cisco the  profoundest  blight  on  the  working  class  and  on  every  form 
of  resident  humanity  is  what  is  known  as  "Industrial  Peace ;"  and  no 
plague  of  Egypt  was  ever  more  potent  and  poisonous  to  the  working 
class.  At  the  same  time  it  has  paid  big  and  safe  dividends  to  the 
custodians  who  keep  it  in  their  safe  deposit  boxes — or  elsewhere. 

WILL    THE    ROOSEVELT    "NEW    SOCIALISM"    SUCCEED? 

My  answer  to  this  question  was  ready  long  before  I  prepared  this 
unpremeditated  study  of  Roosevelt's  N^w  Socialism.  Had  I  awaited 
the  returns  of  the  election  just  over,  I  should  have  been  even  more 
confirmed  in  my  convictions  that  "Roosevelt  IS  the  most  dangerous 
man  in  .America."  as  Debs  says — but  not  for  the  reason  that  Debs 
gives.  rRoosevelt's  revisionism  of  socialism  will  necessarily  succeed 
marvelously  in  deflecting  "socialist"  votes  from  the  Socialist  Party. 
Its  inevitable  success  in  this  field  is  what  is  making  the  movement  so 
popular  with  capitalists  of  all  stripes  and  with  Hearst  and  all  the 
other  innately  conservative  radicals.""N 

THE    GENESIS    OF    JOHNSON'S    REFORM    LEGISLATION. 

Take  California,  as  the  nearest  and  strongest  field  for  a  test. 
As  already  shown,  the  new  Rooseveltism  is,  of  course,  merely  Hiram 

14 


Johnsonism,  writ  large;  and  Hiram  Johnson's  program  of  "positive 
reform"  (which  the  laborite  lobby  and  the  Social-Democrat  lobby 
flatter  themselves  they  had  some  important  part  in  creating)  was  of 
course  born  of  those  47,000  votes  secured  by  socialist  candidate  Wil- 
son in  1910, "and  of  the  conditions  that  produced  that  startling  "so- 
cialist' development  from  the  16,000  votes  of  the  preceding  governor- 
ship election. 

The  California  primary  election  of  September,  1912,  however, 
proved  that  wherever  the  socialist  vote  of  recent  years  has  been  seem- 
ingly very  large,  there  the  falling-off  this  year  has  been  the  greatest. 
The  official  state  organ  of  the  Socialist  Party,  published  in  Los  An- 
geles, where  the  "socialist"  vote  ran  to  53,000  last  year,  has  the 
following  as  the  first  editorial  in  its  issue  of  September  7 : 

RESULTS  AT  THE  PRIMARIES 
The  returns  in  at  this  writing  would  indicate  that 
the  Socialist  candidates  for  Judges  of  the  Superior 
Court  are  all  defeated  in  Los  Angeles  County.  The 
humiliating  thing,  however,  in  this  defeat  is  that  it  was 
accomplished  with  an  opposing  vote  ranging  from  6,400 
to  7,800.  If  these  figures  be  correct  they  mean  that  less 
than  6,400  was  the  entire  Socialist  vote  of  Los  Angeles 
County  for  the  judicial  ticket.  The  Socialist  who  stayed 
away  from  the  election  Tuesday  should  hang  his  head  in 
shame.  With  practically  22,000  Socialists  registered  in 
the  county  there  can  be  no  adequate  excuse  offered  for 
this  result.  It  is  due  to  the  almost  criminal  indifference 
of  voters  who  call  themselves  Socialist  but  who  have  yet 
to  learn  what  it  means  to  be  a  Socialist. 

With  the  highest  vote  for  a  judicial  candidate  at 
18,000,  the  Socialist  candidates  should  have  led  the  field. 
They  did  not.  Someone  is  responsible  for  it.  For  a 
Socialist  not  to  vote  whenever  there  is  an  election,  unless 
circumstances  prevent,  is  treason.  It  is  as  though  the 
soldier  should  go  to  sleep  at  his  post  or  desert  in  the 
face  of  the  enemy. 

(The  "somebody"  who  is  responsible  is  either  the  one  who 
taught  "Roosevelt"  socialism  LAST  year,  or  Teddy  himself  THIS 
year— or  BOTH.) 

In  Alameda  county,  where  in  recent  elections  the  socialists  elected 
the  Mayor  of  Berkeley  and  came  very  close  to  electing  the  Mayor 
of  Oakland,  Socialist  Mayor  Wilson,  running  for  Congress  on  the 
Socialist  ticket  and  backed  up  by  a  strong  paper,  an  enthusiastic 

15 


organization,  and  a  live  campaign  (with  the  Progressive  vote  split 
into  two  wings),  polled  less  than  10  per  'cent  of  the  total;  and,  it 
must  be  remembered,  that  the  socialists  have  been  counting  so  con- 
fidently on  Mayor  Wilson's  election  as  Congressman  that,  as  I  have 
heard  some  of  the  members  say,  they  allowed  him  to  keep  out  of 
the  recent  recall  election  in  Oakland  as  an^active  participant,  so  that 
his  Congressional  campaign  might  not  be  affected  by  the  antagonism 
of  those  who  might  be  for  a  Republican  or  independent  candidate  like 
Davi-e  in  the  mayoralty  election,  but  for  the  socialist  candidate  in 
the  Congressman  campaign.  Nevertheless  the  Roosevelt  candidate 
(or,  even  more  accurately,  the  Hiram  Johnson  candidate),  altho 
running  a  very  bad  second,  beat  the  socialist  candidate  by  over  3  to  1. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  San  Francisco,  where  the  socialist  vote 
hag  been  kept  down  to  a  clear-cut  base  since  1905  by  the  antagonism 
of  the  Union  Labor  party,  and  by  the  campaigning  of  candidates  no 
more  popular  than  their  Party  and  on  issues  no  more  "popular"  than 
the  so-called  rank  socialism  (that  is,  straight  industrial  socialism), 
the  vote  in  the  primary  election  of  1912  is  encouragingly  good  and 
sound,  under  very  hard  conditions  of  competition  with  a  Roosevelt- 
Union-Labor-'S'tate  machine  combination,  fresh  from  a  monster  Labor 
day  demonstration,  <etc.  In  fact  the  average  socialist  vote  in  San 
Francisco  was  emphatically  above  the  normal,  since  whatever  loss 
(apparent  loss)  the  pseudo-socialism  of  Roosevelt  might  have  occa- 
sioned, has  been  caused  already  (and  discounted  now)  by  the  pseudo- 
socialism  of  Ruef,  Schmitz,  Hearst,  McCarthy,  and  similar  past- 
masters  in  the  art  of  being  what  Ruef  has  called  (see  an  earlier  page 
of  this  pamphlet)  "radical,  but  not  dangerous  to  the  interests." 

LOSS    OR    GAIN    FROM    ROOSEVELT'S 
BISMARCKIAN   POLICY? 

It  needs  no  further  proof,  then,  that  the  Roosevelt  Messiah-craze, 
like  earlier  forms  of  political  ghost-dancing  or  election  mania,  will 
reduce  the  apparent  socialist  vote  in  1912  from  the  two  or  three 
millons — the  sum  that  (in  1911)  was  confidently  and  justifiably 
expected — to  perhaps  not  more  than  one  million ;  but  the  actual, 
solid,  substantial  conquest  of  political  power  by  the  socialist  move- 
ment of  the  working  class  cannot  be  stopped,  stayed,  disturbed  or 
stolen.  In  fact  Roosevelt  will  prove  a  mighty  means  of  clarifying 
and  solidifying  the  socialist  movement. 

The  only  way  to  meet  him  (and  he  HAS  to  be  met — make  no 
soothing-salve  mistake  about  THAT),  is  to  show  that  HIS  socialism 
means  nothing  of  real  fundamental  benefit  to  the  WORKING 
CLASS,  while  the  real  socialism  of  the  international  class  movement 

16 


means  EVERYTHING  to  the  workers.  JThis  demonstration  will  of 
course  prevent  the  socialists  now  from/  masquerading  as  "radicals 
but  NOT  revolutionists" ;  capitalist  and  middle^class  votes,  as  well  as 
the  useless  votes  of  muddled  middle-class-minded  workers  (which 
element  necessarily  includes  a  very  high  percentage  of  the  new 
woman-voters),  will,  of  course  shy  off  and  vamoose.  The  temporary 
effect  will  be  a  reduced  vote ;  the  permanent  and  perfect  gain  will 
be  that  the  socialist  movement  will  then  tend  to  become,  not  a  mere 
meaningless  column  of  votes,  but  a  marching  army  of  VOTERS,  men 
and  women  REVOLUTIONISTS,  demanding  fundamental  social 
change — not  that  Capitalism  be  reformed  and  LIVE,  as  T.  R.  pro- 
poses, but  that  Capitalism  be  damned  and  DIE — in  order  that  the 
worker  may  live  by  his  labor,  enjoy  thru  his  product,  control  thru 
his  usefulness  to  society,  and  conduct  mankind  to  ever  nobler  and 
nobler  degrees  of  fraternal  co-operation  in  freedom  and  justice. 

THE  FINAL   CAMPAIGN   ON   FAKE   ISSUES 

The  campaign  of  the  Bull  Moose  of  1912  will  be  the  first  and 
yet  the  final  rally  of  those  who  unite  in  a  great  national  party  for 
the  purpose  of  forestalling  socialism,  and  yet  dare  not  openly  and 
honestly  proclaim  their  antagonism  to  socialism.  Hereafter  the 
national  issue  will  be  clear  and  clean-cut — Socialism  versus  anti- 
Socialism.  The  saviors  of  the  system  will  be  forced  to  appeal 
directly  to  those  who  BELIEVE  in  the  system;  and  as  soon  as  the 
Roosevelt  crusaders  show  their  hand,  the  number  of  "Socialists  whom 
you  can  work"  will  suddenly  diminish  and  then  vanish.  Neither  the 
crass  patriotism  of  the  Rough  Rider  vintage,  nor  the  shallow  hysteria 
of  the  Bandanna  fetich  waved  over  the  hypnotized,  mesmerized, 
paralyzed  puppets  of  the  Prophet,  can  have  power  to  withstand  the 
logic  of  industrial  evolution,  the  strength  of  industrial  organization, 
nor  the  spirit  of  industrial  and  international  solidarity  of  the 
Workers  of  the  World. 

"MOLLYCODDLES"  AND  POLLY-CODDLES 

The  mollycoddles  of  the  middle  class  with  the  POLLY- 
CODDLES  of  all  'classes  are  doomed  to  decay  and  disappear  in  the 
clear  light  of  a  CLASS  STRUGGLE  that  must  produce  more  and 
more  (much  as  Mr.  Roosevelt  may  slander  it  by  calling  it  "that  foul 
thing")  the  spirit  of  CLASS-CONSCIOUSNESS  and  the  ringing 
ranks  of  MILITANT  radicals. 

Such  radicals  are  necessarily  arrayed  in  defense  of  the  SOCIAL 
REVOLUTION.  They  are,  therefore,  in  every  sense  of  the  term, 
DANGEROUS  to  the  powers  that  prey  and  oppress, — to  the  forces 

17 


that  fetter  mankind,  and  to  the  political  ambition  oi  every  "mes- 
sianic" leader  that  strives  to  serve  the  interests  of  capital  by 
saving  the  system  from  some  of  its  more  monstrous  ills  in  order  to 
protect  and  perpetuate  its  more  normal  and  fundamental  wrongs. 
The  ARMAGEDDON  of  Capital  is  at  hand,  and  before  Colonel 
Roosevelt  will  get  thru  with  this  "final  .conflict,"  he  will  have  to 
answer  out  loud  the  'compelling  and  oft-quoted  question, 

"ON  WHICH  SIDE,  BEZONIAN?" 


Those  who  have  read  our  diagnosis  of  T.  R.  in  1912  may  be  glad 
to  compare  it  with  the  following  views  published  after  the  foregoing 
matter  in  this  pamphlet  had  been  written: 


APPENDIX 


DEATH    BED    CONVERSION    OF   CAPITALISM 
By  A.  M.  Simons,  Editor  of  COMING  NATION. 

The  Roosevelt  party  is  the  death  bed  conversion  of  American 
capitalism.  Its  appearance  is  a  sign  that  the  Socialist  party  has 
reached  manhood  and  is  about  to  displace  -the  senile  defenders  of 
things  as  they  are  and  enter  into  its  inheritance.  The  Roosevelt 
platform  is  simply  a  hypodermic  injection  of  dope  by  which  his 
backers  hope  to  get  one  more  run  out  of  a  broken-down  horse.  They 
do  not  expect  him  to  win  the  race,  but  they  figure  that  he  can  interfere 
with  and  foul  the  only  dangerous  contestant  and  thus  permit  one  of 
the  ringers  to  get  away  with  the  money. 

Roosevelt,  falling  off  the  Republican  elephant,  remembered  the 
theological  doggerel  describing  a  sinner  who  under  similar  circum- 
stances— 

"Between  the  saddle  and  ground 

He  mercy  sought  and  found." 

and  hastened  to  confess  the  sins  of  his  entire  class  and  steal  the 
semblance  of  all  the  virtues  in  sight.  Unlike  the  woman  who  cele- 
brated her  camp-meeting  conversion  by  giving  all  her  false  hair  to 
her  sister,  "Because,"  she  explained,  "it  was  dragging  my  soul  straight 
to  eternal  damnation,"  roosevelt  has  decked  himself  with  a  lot  of 
paste  jewelry  carefully  cut  and  polished  up  to  resemble  those  genuine 
jewels  hitherto  found  only  in  the  Socialist  platform. 

This  conversion  of  decrepit  capitalism  is  much  overdue.  Other 
nations  confessed  long  ago.  Bismark  led  the  way  for  Germany. 
Lloyd-George  is  now  on  his  knees  for  England,  and  sees  across  the 
channel  the  renegades,  Briand,  Viviani  and  Millerand  telling  the  tale 
of  their  sins  and  promising  repentance. 

18 


Four  years  ago  these  professions  of  conversion  would  have 
of  sin  and  suspicion  of  hypocrisy. 

Two  years  ago  Roosevelt  was  spreading  foul  libels  against  the 
mothers,  wives  and  daughters  of  Socialists  in  the  hope  of  checking 
the  growth  of  Socialism.  Today  he  is  cooing  like  a  sucking  dove 
to  'call  Socialists  to  his  support.  Until  he  has  apologized  for  his 
descent  into  a  depth  of  political  degeneration  touched  by  no  other  man 
even  in  the  foul  slime  of  American  politics  it  would  seem  that  those 
women  who  are  rushing  to  his  standard  owe  an  apology  to  their 
sex. 

A  few  have  complained  and  more  exulted  that  Roosevelt  has 
stolen  planks  from  the  Socialist  party  platform.  Some  one  has 
counted  twenty-one  of  these  niched  planks. 

[Continued  on  top  of  next  page] 


J gainst  evecjf  such  promise  of  reform  there  are  a  hundred  sins 
brmance. 
gainst  his  promises  of  trust  control  there  stands  his  perform- 
i  the  Alton  Steal,  the  Tennessee  Coal  and  Iron  absorption,  the 
defense  of  the  Harvester  Trust  against  prosecution  and  the  faithful 
support  of  the  trusts  in  his  campaign. 

Against  the  profuse  promises  of  love  for  the  worker  there  rises 
the  ghost  of  his  performance  at  Croton  Dam,  his  anxiety  to  use  a 
spiked  club  on  laborers  while  police  commissioners,  his  efforts  to  hang 
imprisoned  union  men  whenever  opportunity  offered  and  his  enact- 
ment and  enforcement  of  the  "gag-rule"  in  the  postoffice. 

Against  his  death-bed  conversion  to  woman  suffrage  is  placed 
his  disgustingly  repeated  injunctions  to  the  women  of  America  to 
become  mere  breeders  of  wage  slaves. 

Against  his  loud-voiced  protestations  of  democracy  it  is  neces- 
sary to  place  "me,  my,  mine,  I,  IT." 

Against  his  wild  wails  for  purity  in  political  matters  there  rises 
the  veil  of  silence  that  hangs  over  the  sources  of  his  own  campaign 
fund,  the  stench  of  the  Harriman  letter  and  the  clamor  of  the  bosses 
clinging  about  him. 

With  his  very  posturing  stolen  from  the  second  Napoleon,  with 
his  plan  of  campaign  taken  from  Bismark  and  Lloyd-George,  with 
the  wording  of  his  platform  lifted  bodily  from  the  Socialist  party,  this 
political  Fagin  rallies  his  deluded  followers  with  the  slogan  "Thou 
shalt  not  steal." 

Karl  Marx,  in  (commenting  upon  the  career  of  the  Second  Napo- 
leon (with  whom  it  is  almost  impossible  to  avoid  comparing  Roose- 
velt), said  that  it  was  true  that  historic  events  repeated  themselves, 
but  the  second  time  as  a  farce.  When  Bismark  first  sought  to  stem 
the  flood  of  revolution  with  the  straws  of  reform  he  was  an  almost 
heroic  figure  as  the  leader  of  a  lost  cause.  When  Roosevelt  struts 
and  poses  in  the  semblance  of  Bismark,  decked  in  cheap  imitations 
of  the  Bismarkian  reforms  the  result  is  as  farcical  as  a  straw-stuffed 
scare-crow  at  the  head  of  an  army. 

Nor  will  the  size  of  his  following  make  him  any  less  of  a  farce. 
Again  we  are  reminded  that  although  Napoleon  the  Little  was  twice 
endorsed  by  a  referendum  he  is  still  the  colossal  joke  of  history.  But 
I  wonder  how  when  his  hollowness  was  exposed  those  people  felt 
who  voted  to  endorse  him. 

It  is  bad  to  be  sham,  but  to  meekly  follow  a  sham  is,  for  real  men 
and  women,  something  infinitely  worse. — From  Coming  Nation,  via 
Social-Democrat. 

20 


RADICAL  LITERATURE 


TO-DAY 


Birds  Before  the  Storm 


"DARROW'S  DEFENSE" 

The  Great  Plea  of  Clarence  Darrow  to  the  Los  Angeles  Jury 25 


TWO  BOOKS  OF  INTENSE  PERSONAL  INTEREST 
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The  Anarchist  Woman,  a  sequel  to  Spirit  of  Labor,  postpaid 55 

Caesar's  Column,  Ignatius  Donnelly,  in  paper  covers 25 

The  book  that  seems  to  have  inspired  Tack  London's  great 

work,  The  Iron  Heel. 


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Formerly  hard  to  get  at   any  price 
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The  Ballad  of  Reading  Gaol,  by   Oscar   Wilde 10 

The  Soul  of  Man  Under  Socialism,  by  Oscar  Wilde 10 

The  Rubaiyat  of  Omar  Khayyam   (Old  Fitz's) 10 

The  Duty  of  Civil  Disobedience,  by  Thoreau 10 

The  Land  Question,  by  Henry  George 10 

And    "more    as    plenty"    others,    at    the 

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This  puts  the  spots  ou  T.  R. — but  how  about  Hiram  Johnsor 
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